Matt Tuckey is a writer from Oldham, England. He covers celebrities, night life, Manchester, fitness, creative writing, social media, psychology and events. Some of this may, in some way, help others. Or maybe it'll just entertain you for a while.
Minor stress on entry at Exhibition Centre Liverpool as Ticketquarter hadn’t sent me my tickets – the box office place found out it was due to a misspelling on the email. All sorted in a few minutes once they were resent to my phone. Massive relief.
In the queue for Lea Thompson – Elaine Baines / McFly in Back to the Future – I overheard her talking to the guy in front of me about John Travolta.
“He didn’t wanna dance in Pulp Fiction. That scene was more related to the actor’s time and age.” (Saturday Night Fever made him a star in ‘77 and the musical Grease came out in ‘78.) “But your real heroes dance.”
Lea Thompson
Steven Bauer. Manny Ribera in Scarface, Don Eladio in Breaking Bad / Better Call Saul. Roles in CSI, SWAT, Hawaii Five O, Supergirl.
Sean
Pertwee. Martin in I.D. Pilot Smith in Event Horizon. Father in
Equilibrium. Sgt Wells in Dog Soldiers. Alfred Pennyworth in Gotham.
Leigh Francis. Creator of Bo Selecta and Celebrity Juice
Pam Grier is... Jackie Brown. Also Coffy and Foxy Brown. Star of many '70s
Blaxploitation movies. Amanda in Smallville. Ms. Wardroe in Bill &
Ted's Bogus Journey. Louise in Mars Attacks!
Rick Hoffman. Bruno / Darren in CSI Miami. Michael in CSI. Kelvin in NCIS. Louis Litt in Suits.
Billy Zane. Match in Back to the Future, Caledon Hockley in Titanic, Steve Elliot in Critters, Mr Fabian in Tombstone.
My most expensive picture. Christopher Lloyd. 'Doc' Dr Emmett Brown in Back to the Future Trilogy. Doom in Who
Framed Roger Rabbit. Max in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. 'Pieces'
Oldman in Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead. Cmdr. Kruge in Star
Trek 3. Uncle Fester in The Adams Family / Values.
Catherine Tate Q+A over the screens. The Catherine Tate Show, Nellie Bertram in
The Office (US), voiced Magica De Spell in Duck Tales.
An attendee's model DeLorean, signed by Christopher Lloyd
A write-up of an incredible convention in Liverpool with some Back to the Future guests.
More updates on this Excess Project that isn’t doing my health any good. Not great when you're on camera.
I’m on leave today to get on top of it all.
I’m going to make another attempt to get this Psychology Social Group moving, this time in Egg & Co on Deansgate, for a chat about psychology books. Thursday night, 6pm. I just want to make new friends and connections away from the bar and club scene. It’s been hard work finding a place that opens in the evenings, doesn’t serve alcohol or junk food, has the space to seat us, and isn’t involved in some horrific practice in the Middle East. This egg-based restaurant seems to do the trick.
5 attendees so far.
Saturday night: Do you like Thai food? Do you want to get drunk while eating it? Or at least have a drink? Come join Manchester Nightlife to Muay Thai Tapas, a new Thai eatery nestled in Ancoats. Spices, cocktails, good chat and maybe a few other Ancoats bars after – that’s the plan for this week’s night out. Come try it. 7pm, Blossom St.
5 of us are coming as of now.
Well, it’s time for another Psychology Saturday update, including anything vaguely psychology-related from this week. Most of this update will involve this absurd ‘Excess Month’ in which I attempt to make space in my cupboard by drinking as much of the alcohol in it as possible.
The last few mls of a bottle of Glen Morangie – that I’ve probably had since 2008 – was the first thing to be emptied out down my gullet this week, followed by the remaining quarter of a 2012 bottle of fine Bacardi that I remember buying in Brighton Pride. Also polished off: the last of the Aldi Ballycastle Peanut Butter variety. Exquisite indulgence.
Finished watching the very weird Twin Peaks series. I’m a big David Lynch fan but I understood none of it. Was I supposed to? Maybe not. The murder mystery remains unsolved after 2 seasons, but there were plenty of other things that were left unexplained, like… all of it. The DVD extras include plot updates that Americans could receive – in the late 80s and early 90s – by phoning a specific number, read out by the actors playing their characters. I still don’t get it. I think the whole point of Lynch’s work is that you absorb the feeling, the dream-like state of the work, without totally getting the narrative. Just breathe it in, like the pinewood air of the fictional rural Washington town.
Next up: Withnail and I, a 1987 Brit classic featuring 2 1960s pisscan out-of-work actors taking a break in Penrith Cumbria. The cottage they’ve inhabited, however, comes with some obstacles – namely the closet gay uncle they’ve borrowed it from.
They drink a lot of alcohol.
As it happens, I met Paul McGann – the titular ‘I’ – at Comic Con Yorkshire in June ‘24.
Revisited a university classic in Old School, featuring Will Ferrell, Luke Wilson and, interestingly, Snoop Dogg and the dude off Mulholland Drive who has a heart attack when he sees the homeless guy. Older guys start an unsanctioned college fraternity, drink a lot, smoke a lot of drugs, and have unwise (and borderline illegal) promiscuous sex. The Dean – that they used to bully in school – is out for revenge.
Still funny, but has perhaps not dated well.
I saw Snoop Dogg at Parklife in 2014.
Watched stand Up Guys, a 2012 crime comedy. Al Pacino gets out of prison, meets up with his old career criminal friend Christopher Walken and decide to party to celebrate freedom. Cue booze, cocaine, prescription drugs, prostitutes, hospital visits, car thefts and fine tailoring. Chaotic fun, needed a bit more umph to make it stand out. Ending is a bit ridiculous.
Chain bar Manahatta seem to be pulling together a varied roster of events. Wednesday: their Friend Dating night kicks off at 7pm. Think speed dating – 4 minute chats with several people – but to find friends. Is that going to work with that minimal time? And how varied would the people be? I dunno. Will I try it? No, because I’m too old. Will you? If you’ve got a free evening and a spare £20 for the ticket.
Saturday sees the return of Comic Con Liverpool, Monopoly Event’s flagship convention, in Exhibition Centre Liverpool. This year’s astounding line-up features cast from Jackie Brown, Dog Soldiers, Back to the Future, Men in Black and Scarface among many others.
I’ve got a 12:30pm entrance ticket. 9ams were gone already. When I bought it last week, the timings of photos hadn’t been confirmed, so Ticketquarter advised me just to buy entrance for the moment. I’m looking at spending nearly £400 on photos, provided I can get them at the table. That’s my challenge.
Bought my last junk food for the foreseeable. Didn’t actually specify that I was going to cut that out, but I will now. Current weight: 82.7kg. I’d like it to go down, but let’s be realistic here.
Went to Newcastle for the Comic Con. Did a lot of walking around. One drawback to memory difficulties: if I go to an unfamiliar place, like Newcastle, I’m going to park somewhere. I have to take pictures of the car, the street signs and the surrounding areas. I’ve also got to make sure there are no parking issues. Blue Badge has its benefits, but it doesn’t mean I can park anywhere. Bit of stress finding the car after dark in a strange city. I also need to make sure that my phone and external battery are as charged as possible. Running out of power means all the photos, notes and maps are inaccessible. If that happens, I’ve really screwed the pooch.
I really should learn how to drop a pin on Google Maps.
Wednesday: tried to go to some kind of mindfulness session in Hathershaw in Oldham, but couldn’t find the building. Not the safest or cleanest of places, nor with the best signage. Mum told me about it. Alas, Google Maps took me to a dilapidated building on a council estate. I didn’t hang around.
Throughout the week I polished off the remnants of a bottle of Talisker that I’ve had for over a decade. Aldi’s latest Ballycastle release – Chocolate Malt Biscuit – was a bit of a misfire.
After Saturday 26th’s Comic Con North East , a great small event, I had a wander around the Toon and stumbled across The Discovery Museum, full of artefacts and mock-ups celebrating Newcastle’s history. The exterior may be currently covered in scaffolding but the inside is very much a complete experience. Free, too. Modern design, fascinating finds.
Alan Ford came up 25th from London to Newcastle and got a curry. The city, he tells us, was always known for pretty girls.
I concur. I, on the other hand, got up at 6am on Saturday 26th and drove up, getting to the Utilita Arena just in time for the opening of the doors and the start of Comic Con North East. There was a bit of stress at that point when I realised Ticketquarter hadn’t actually sent me my tickets, but my name was on their system for both entrance and photo, so there were no issues.
83-year-old Ford is possibly best known as cockney hard man Brick Top from Guy Ritchie’s 2000 gangster movie Snatch.
But we’ll get into that.
The compare tells us Newcastle still has that aesthetic reputation (he’s right). Then we dive into Ford’s screen roles.
COMPARE: Between movies and TV, is there a different approach?
AF: No. For stage there is, but not screen.
The mic goes out to the audience, where we start with American Werewolf in London, the 1981 horror comedy.
AF: Good memory! I drive the taxi to Trafalgar Square. The transformation into the werewolf (that David Naughton’s David is subjected to) was the best on film. The director (John Landis) wasn’t known at the time; I just thought it was ‘another film.’
COMPARE: Must be tough.
AF: No, when they’re not offering work, *that’s* tough.
COMPARE: You seem to do a lot of gangster roles.
AF: In theatre I’ve done all sorts, but better to be typecast than not cast. I like doing other stuff. They pay me to be Brick Top. I’m not complaining. Lock Stock and Snatch were next to each other (1998 and 2000 respectively).
An audience member admits he was too young to be watching Lock Stock and Snatch when they first saw it.
AF: Young lads who weren’t born when those films came out, they ask me to swear at them.
COMPARE: Can you do it now?
AF: Thank you for being here, but you’re a cunt. You never know how they’re gonna take it, but they take it well.
Ford has a history of working with Guy Ritchie throughout the late 90s and 00s.
AF: I met Guy Ritchie on Lock Stock, and auditioned for him. He told me to do another scene, so I did, then he changed it again. I said, I can’t be fucked about. So they stuck with the first one. But scene when it had to be on film was going to be 4 hours long.
COMPARE: What is it about the gangster genre that attracts people?
AF: Lock Stock kicked it off, 27 years ago.
(I would argue Reservoir Dogs did 5 years before that.)
AF: I’m still getting a living off it.
COMPARE: You grew up in that (London) world. You knew those characters.
AF: I grew up south of the river (Thames). The Richardson Brothers (rivals to The Kray Twins) were around. The guys you saw had a way of walking and talking.
AUDIENCE QUESTION: Was there any role that you were passed over for?
AF: Fucking thousands of them. I watch stuff thinking, I could have done that!
COMPARE: Was there a role in particular?
AF: I don’t want to fucking think about it! I love doing comedy. I worked with Steve Coogan. I did The Darling Buds of May with David Jason. I’d sold a guy a boat but it was half sank in the canal. I played a dame in pantomime, which is nothing like me. The key is being good at what you’re offered. Once I did Snatch, directors will say ‘do you want to put your own spin on it?’ But on Snatch, every line was written by Guy Ritchie.
AQ: Do you prefer being someone different?
AF: I like being away from myself. I wouldn’t take writing away from someone, even if it’s bad.
COMPARE: With TV, is there less room to manoeuvre?
AF: 2 years ago I was in Eastenders. There, there was less wiggle room. There was an offer that came to me. I did 1 episode in the 80s when it started, with Wendy Richard. I wanted to do a part with Barbara Windsor. I was supposed to be her boyfriend. It was a good thing I didn’t because Lock Stock and Snatch came up. Then I got Eastenders for the role of Billy Mitchell’s dad.
COMPARE: Soaps are like ‘fast movies.’ Which do you prefer?
AF: I’ve grown up with movies, so I prefer the pace. The pace of soaps was too much. I’d come back for a family wedding though.
COMPARE: How does 88-year-old Alan Ford fill his time?
AF: I write. I wrote a novel 20 years ago, based on true events. My favourite time is sitting in the pub with other actors, chatting, who’s sleeping with who. I’ve an idea to write a novel with all these anecdotes, all happening to 1 character.
COMPARE: Any advice for actors?
AF: Don’t have another string to your bow. If you wanna be an actor, be an actor. “I’m doing this. Fuck everything else.”
COMPARE: What’s next?
AF: I’ve just had a big disappointment. Some producers were doing an animated comedy on a rough estate. I was the grandmother. The BBC turned it down. I hope it moves on. We’re all a bit sick of BBC, aren’t we?
Yes.
COMPARE: Anything you haven’t done that you’d like to?
AF: I’ve done the dancing, the criminals, Bergerac. I love doing comedy with Steve Coogan.
After the Q+A came the photo op. I was the last in the queue. Ford got us to laugh on cue. What a character!
Small but fun con. I wasn’t familiar with any of the other guests, but here’s what the rest of it looked like…
